Barriers to sexual harassment bystander intervention in Ecuadorian universities

ABSTRACT

Previous research, mainly in the United States, has identified several barriers to acting as a bystander in sexual harassment at university campuses. Despite the high frequency of harassment in Latin America, there is a dearth of studies investigating barriers to bystander behaviour in this context. In this pilot study, we report findings exploring harassment and bystander behaviour in university staff and students in Ecuador, a Latin American country characterised by masculine social norms and high levels of gender-based harassment. In an on-line survey, 129 staff and students from universities in different regions of Ecuador answered questions about perceptions of seriousness of harassment, rape myth acceptance, actual incidences of being a perpetrator, victim, or a bystander, and the likelihood and difficulties of bystander action. Women and those who scored higher in rape myth acceptance reported more intervention difficulties. In addition, women and those who had previously perpetrated harassment rated their likelihood of intervening lower. Finally, perceptions of harassment as a serious problem in campuses related to a higher likelihood of intervening as a bystander. We discuss the results in terms of practical applications in devising culturally appropriate bystander intervention workshops.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual harassment
• bystander intervention barriers
• rape myth acceptance
• Ecuador
• Latin America

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Anna Forrest-Redfern for her research assistance at early stages of the project, and British Embassy in Quito for funding the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).